Nutrition myth debunking – How can I neutralise stomach acid?
Wait, hold up. Do you really want to neutralise stomach acid? Or do you want to stop gastric acid getting where it shouldn’t be – i.e. the oesophagus causing acid reflux chaos… We WANT strong stomach acid, and lots of it, believe me.
Stomach acid, and subsequent digestion juices, bile, pancreatic enzymes etc. – these are liquid gold, these help us to break down the food we eat properly (by doing so, less reactions to these foods in terms of food sensitivities), absorb key nutrients, and acts as one of our first lines of defence – keeping us safe from pathogens. Too LITTLE acidity can add to all of these issues.
The problem isn’t too much stomach acid – physiologically this is very rare, the problem is often too little, which drives symptoms and creates symptoms that look like we have too much. PPIs anyone?
Your stomach acids levels send intricate signals to the openings of the stomach. Too little stomach acid and the oesophageal sphincter might not get the message to close properly – hello, heartburn.
We also need sufficient acidity to trigger the opening of the pyloric sphincter at the bottom – otherwise, feelings of fullness, and delayed gastric emptying can crop up – other common digestive complaints.
How to increase acidity naturally?
? Sour and bitter tastes before meals (get a herbal bitters tincture if you need some help with this.)
??♀️Relaxation – time and attention to preparing and eating food.
? Chewing well.
? Don’t drink with meals.
Try some of these and let me know how you get on ✨
